To Seeing the Invisible

There are so many logical reasons why one should support space exploration, and justify the expense. But these reasons are not why I support space exploration. I support space exploration because it's just fascinating . I’m not yet a computer scientist, so I don’t get to call myself a scientist according to many. But I share with them an inherent need to understand the world around me, and to see with my eyes the structures underpinning our existence. There's a kind of awe I get when I read a beautiful algorithm that I also get when I understand what the CMBR is, and how it got there. And even if I didn't understand any of the science, there's a different kind of awe, a more primal and fundamental numinous, that comes from seeing a picture of the surface of Titan sent back by Huygens, or cloud tops of Jupiter seen from just above their surface. A kind of awe I would gladly pay a few dollars for - which, as one of 300 million Americans, is precisely what it costs me...

Well shit, I just got home and my dad and his friends were still drinking. I reluctantly joined in...I have a fucking interview tomorrow, in Oakland. WTF am I doing? Fuck it, I've already done a drunk post before, here goes nothing: I just shared a very special night with a few of my closest friends. I am truly, truly blessed. I've come to realize I cannot be thankful enough for all these remarkable moments few people have to opportunity to experience. To sit down with a group of friends, and to relive Chris Botti's greatest personal performance over a glass of Napa Valley wine, let alone to do that through one of the most technologically sound mediums? An HDTV that lets us see the beady sweat on the drummer's forehead in the backdrop of any scene, a BluRay sound that lets us hear the raw timbre of the yamaha piano. We sat there that in Boston venue tonight. We just experienced Chris Botti's liquid-gold of a tone melt our very souls to jello. This is mate...

Eric Clapton - Tears in Heaven popped up on shuffle today. I have to agree, this is one of the greatest songs ever made. Ironic though, to see that affinity humans have toward such dark emotions, even if they are reminders of a painful past. We all have our own stories that go with these emotions, yet our society reveres manifestations of such sad stories like that of Clapton's. It's as if we constantly need to be reminded of precisely the things we wish to avoid.

This might be a pretty controversial opinion, but it's something I've been thinking about for a while now, and I think It will help me flesh out my thoughts if I express it in words--however incoherent they are. In our society, there is a positive correlation of success and likability in men, but a negative correlation in women. I can think of specific person where this is true. She is a very career-oriented and I know her ambition will definitely lead her to success. But frankly, I can see how many of her peers are intimidated, or sometimes even detracted by her. Had this person been a guy, that detraction would have been reverence. As a female becomes more successful, men deem them less and less approachable, but this trend is black-and-white opposite with men; socially, society views successful men as a positive thing. And I think that sucks . Not only is this cultural stigma completely disempowering but, taking account creative and logical process in the brain dif...